Headline

Pope Out Of Danger, Talk Turns To Return Home

Published

9 months ago

March 11, 2025

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Pope Francis was reported to be in good spirits Tuesday after the Vatican declared he was out of danger and could even be discharged in the near future after almost one month in hospital with pneumonia.

The 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14 with pneumonia in both lungs and has suffered several respiratory crises that sparked real fear for his life.

But after a week of steady improvements, the Holy See on Monday evening said his prognosis was no longer considered “reserved”, or uncertain — meaning his life is no longer at risk.

His condition remains complex and he will require hospital treatment for “several more days”, it added — with the implication that after that, he could go home to the Vatican.

A Vatican source on Tuesday denied, however, that preparations were under way for his return to the Santa Marta residence, indicating his discharge was not imminent.

Francis missed the start of the Lent religious period last week.

Speculation is now growing as to whether he may be able to participate in celebrations for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar which culminates on April 20.

Simonetta Maronge, an employee of the Santa Marta, urged the pope to come home soon.

“May he return to Santa Marta soon, we deeply love him and Santa Marta is empty without him,” she told AFP outside the Gemelli hospital.

– Prayers and meditation –

The Vatican source said Tuesday that the pope’s spirits were “good”.

The press office said he had that morning prayed in the private chapel next to the papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital, and that he had taken part remotely in spiritual exercises — prayers and meditation — in the Vatican.

The Vatican has been giving twice-daily updates on the pope’s health, but these have been reduced since he has improved, and no formal bulletin was expected Tuesday evening.

“The improvements recorded in the previous days have been further consolidated, as confirmed by blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to pharmacological therapy,” the Vatican said in a statement Monday evening.

“For these reasons, the doctors have decided today to lift their reserved prognosis.”

It added that “given the complexity of the pope’s clinical picture and the severe infection present at the time of hospitalisation, it will still be necessary to continue pharmacological treatment in a hospital setting for several more days”.

– Video games –
The pontiff has been doing some work off and on during his hospitalisation, making calls and having occasional visitors, the Vatican says.

One child treated in Rome’s Bambino Gesu hospital, which is also run by the Vatican, sent him a message offering another way to pass the time.

“Dear Pope, I suggest you get someone to give you a PlayStation,” young Alex wrote, according to pictures and drawings released by Bambino Gesu.

Pilgrims visiting Rome for the 2025 Jubilee holy year celebrations have been praying every night for the pope, while special services have been held in churches around the world.

Mimmo Laundando, an Italian pensioner who was at the Gemelli hospital on Tuesday, expressed the hopes of many that Francis would recover, saying he was sorely needed.

“I am hopeful, I think there is really a need for a pope like Francis for all of us, for the whole world,” he said.

Laundando added that he had always dreamed of being the pontiff’s chauffeur, adding: “Now I am here with the car with the idea that maybe if he needs to, I can drive him back.”

Pope Francis will on Thursday mark 12 years as leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.

Even as he recovers, his hospitalisation — the longest and most serious of his papacy — has revived questions about his future.

The Jesuit has always held open the possibility of resigning like his predecessor, the German Benedict XVI, although he also insisted he had no intention of quitting.

Headline

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

Headline

Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.